Queen Bee Knits

Knitting, Living, Loving, Baking, Tips, Tools and Idle Chatter

Christmas 2025 New York City

Posted on December 28, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

The year is winding down and we are home after a wonderful Christmas with my kids and our granddaughter in New York City. We agreed to simplify the holiday this year and participated in a secret Santa gift swap (we each were assigned a person to buy for) which took all the pressure of shopping and threw it out the window. We are all so grateful to have a roof over our heads, jobs that allow us to live in our homes and have food on our tables and that we can spend time together. Time together is the best gift ever.

We spent one night with my college roommate in Westport, CT and headed into the city the following day after we had a bit of an adventure. I have started collecting little art prints from Inciardi print machines and had seen one in Cos Cob, CT which was on our way to NYC. We stopped at the Greenwich Historical Society and I collected some new cards there!

When we got into the car, I checked and there was one other spot, the Greenwich Botanical Center, that had a machine and it was only a few minutes away so we went there next. We got a few more cards!

We had a fun breakfast at a diner in Greenwich before heading in to the City. We stayed in our “suite” at my son’s house that he shares with this girlfriend and their two doggos. We had our lumpy old boy with us, too, so he didn’t have to spend Christmas in a kennel. It was a wonderful few days AND we went to Grand Central for the Holiday event where they had more Inciardi machines and we got some more cards. I had to wait in a line for 30+ minutes to get some. Who knew I was so trendy?! LOL

We also had a Santa’s Workshop morning with Sylvie, our granddaughter on Christmas Eve where she made ornaments for all of her family. I had made the ornaments and cut them out and she decorated them. We sealed them and put a string on them. She was so proud to hand them out on Christmas morning! She also helped string popcorn and cranberries for the tree and made “24-hour Salad” with Auntie Kyla. We played games, fed her lunch and then she went home for a nap. It was a huge success and I hope we can do it every year as she grows up. She’s getting so big and she’s such a hoot to be around. Three is a wonderful age!

It has become a tradition to hit the Costco in Harlem for Christmas dinner supplies (and a bunch of other stuff) and we did that, too. After my son came home from work on Tuesday (Christmas Eve Eve). This year we were “smart” going later. The crowds were very small compared to last year and we were able to actually SEE the store and go through at our leisure. We also went to a gorgeous butcher shop for the Christmas ham. My son wanted to cook a fresh ham (none of us had ever done it) and they’re not easy to find, I guess. The butcher shop was a step back in time and the ham was delicious after being brined over night and then baked. Yum!

This kind of shop is why living in New York City is wonderful. Next door was a sausage sandwich shop walk-up window. Of course the boys got a sandwich. NYC food is one of the things we both miss in Maine. We live in a rural part of the state and there’s nothing like this here. We had a wonderful lunch at Margon, a cuban restaurant, and at Lovely’s, a burger place (great onion rings!) in Hell’s Kitchen. Both of these restaurants are where my son goes for lunch from work – he’s in the theater business, currently replacing all the original wiring in the Barymore Theater. Our bellies were so full but, YUM!

I haven’t been doing a lot of knitting but I have managed to finish my Stockholm Slipover and it’s currently blocking in my atelier. I am so happy with it! I made it with stashed yarn and it didn’t use up all three hanks of fingering weight yarn. I still have one hank left (and some alpaca lace “mohair”). I am going to come up with an idea to use it up. I am! I can hardly wait for it to dry before I wear it. Suffice it to say, it will happen this week. The color of the photo isn’t perfect, it’s more of a plummy color but it’s close. The fabric is so soft and I love the tonal quality of both yarns. It will be boxy on me and that’s ok, too. I’m excited. AND it only two three weeks to finish. It’s amazing how fast a garment can go if you don’t have to visit sleeve island. (IYKYK)

I’ve also been working on a new Musselburgh hat in some stashed yarn and some new mohair! I bought the pink yarn at Knitty City in Manahattan last winter when I found out my daughter had been diagnosed (very early, thank goodness and she has been through her treatments and is healthy today) with breast cancer. I was going to make her a F*^k Cancer hat. It didn’t happen. So, I bought some Berroco Aerial peachy-pink mohair and have made a Musselburgh for myself, I hope. I am almost to where I want to add a new color and I have to find one that will go with a pink brim. It’s an interesting challenge and one I hope I’m up for!

Now that Christmas is over I can bring my husband’s Christmas socks out from hiding. I didn’t finish them this year and I haven’t made much progress, frankly. I have to be able to sit and focus on the pattern of these socks. I’m well into the heel of the first sock and, well, that’s where I stalled. Even with the simpler holiday gifting, I had a last minute rush to fill my middle daughter’s stocking because we didn’t talk about it. Stockings are a big deal in our family and she doesn’t have a partner right now to fill hers. On Christmas Eve Kyla and I snuck out of our dinner party and into her apartment to “steal” her stocking and get it filled for Christmas. It’s what we do!

I was really sad to leave, of course, there’s never enough time with my kids. On our last night in the City it snowed and that was a special treat. The City is so beautiful coated in a new layer of snow! And so quiet! We have had a wonderful trip, a glorious holiday and we are glad to be home before the ice storm that is supposed to come tonight. Our wonderful neighbor ran his snowblower down our driveway and cleared it up for us to come home to – what a lovely surprise!

Gone knitting.

Thankful

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Rabbit! Rabbit! We are home after such a wonderful Thanksgiving that I didn’t even take one photograph! Not one. Babies, toddlers, my nephews and their parents, friends and family and I just enjoyed being together. We feel so lucky to have family members who we like and enjoy just riding along to the airport and a walk around Logan’s 9/11 memorial or lunch after they visited my s-i-l’s cousin in the hospital. We enjoy each other’s company and love our time together.

We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year at my middle nephew’s request and it was delicious! I was very happy with the pumpkin dinner rolls that I brought, they had just enough pumpkin spice to be yummy and not overpowering. The apple pie (no photo of that either) was really yummy as was the cheesecake. I also brought two quiches with hash brown potato crust and they were really yummy, too. I’ll be repeating the quiches at Christmas time. Maybe the pumpkin rolls, too. We will be cooking a turkey breast at our house on Friday because I didn’t have a turkey sandwich yet. I’ll be needing to make cranberry sauce and stuffing for that event. Yum. Why don’t we all make a turkey more than once a year?

While I was away, I believe I’ve finished the fifty inches of stockinette stitch for the Easy Folded Poncho. If so, I’ll be finishing it up tomorrow. I also finished my Alpine Bloom Hat and I absolutely love it. I don’t love it ON me but I love the hat. I also have enough of the yarn left to make something else. I wish there were Alpine Bloom Mittens/Fingerless Mitts. I’m going to have to look because there may be. I cast on the fingerless mitts kit that I bought when “the girls” I work with went to visit a new to Maine yarn shop in Gorham – Olde School Fiber and Craft. Not sure how I feel about this yarn and fabric. Thank goodness they’re mitts and not a sweater. I just think it should have a softer hand than it does. They’ll be fine but not a favorite.

Oops! Just realized I have a committee meeting and the chair didn’t send out an email with an agenda … and the chair is me!

Gone knitting.

Saturday Before Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s cloudy today but the sun is still shining on the south side of the house. Enough so that it’s warm enough to venture outside for a late morning photograph. The loons are still on the lake in their winter feathers but soon enough they’ll be gone again to their winter home on the coast.

This weekend is all about getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday coming up next week. We have plans with our Massachusetts family for the day and we are looking forward to being together after what seems like “forever”. I am tasked with making a couple of desserts chosen by my nephew who will be with us after several years away at veterinary school – cheesecake and an apple pie are the requests. I have also found a recipe for pumpkin dinner rolls that I think I’ll try. I just have to get a grocery order together so I can pick it all up tomorrow or Monday. That’ll be next on my list.

This morning I’ve been catching up and trying to finish some of my crafty projects so that I can wash my favorite hand knit vest to wear around the holiday. I’ve worn it a lot and yesterday I dripped on it at lunchtime. Oops. So, today before I could block it out, I had to finish this unicorn hair clip hanger for my granddaughter. Her mother saw one on Pinterest or somewhere and made the request so Sylvie’s hair clips and headbands can be corralled and she can see them, too. I am pretty pleased with the end result. I hope they will be, too.

And I’ve been knitting a lot trying to get Christmas knitting done. I don’t have a lot left to do but I always make my hubby a pair of socks and this year I’ve decided to go with a second pair using a pattern that I’ve used before. I have some balls of Raggi yarn left that I bought when we were losing the distributor in the US at the shop and I loved knitting the first pair (despite a pattern reading mistake). I’ll knit them the right way this time. LOL. I first saw the pattern for the Thompson River Socks in Interweave Knits back in 2016 and it’s available to purchase on their website but I saved my pattern so I started knitting last week. I have to be careful to knit them when he won’t catch me so they’ll be a surprise. I hope I’ll have them both done for him in time.

I’ve finished the knitting part of the Jamberry Cardigan for Sylvie’s Christmas gift and I have begun the duplicate stitch yoke decorations. Why, I wonder, didn’t I just knit the yoke in colorwork? It would have had some long floats but the duplicate stitch floats are equally long and the process isn’t nearly as enjoyable. Regardless, I made the decision to follow the pattern and I’m duplicate stitching. It’s really a cute sweater and I hope she loves it. It does look huge! I made the 4-year size so she can grow into it and she can always roll up the sleeves if it’s too big now. I’m excited for her to see it.

I have finished the Wee Liam pullover sweater and the little Billie pants for our nugget, the grandson out in Colorado. My hubby picked the buttons and I am quite happy with these two little garments. Hopefully he hasn’t grown too much and will be able to wear them. (All the size details and yarn, etc. are on my Ravelry project page.) The buttons are solid wood and I like the way they pop off the sweater. And I love the color. It’s showing as more gray here in the photo, it’s really more of a dark sage green.

I am spending the later evenings when my eyes and brain are tired working on the endless stockinette stitch of the Easy Folded Poncho in orange (Zinnia colorway) Rowan Felted Tweed. I really like the color and it’s going to be fun to wear. I am around the 30-36″ mark, I think. I haven’t got the guts to really measure it because it seems to take forever to get any significant progress made on it. But I am making some progress.

AND I have cast on two more projects. I couldn’t wait to cast on the Alpine Bloom Hat by Caitlin Hunter. I’ve had the Patagonia Organic Merino in charcoal and light gray in my stash for a while waiting to cast this one and I need a hat that I love. I don’t like myself in hats and I’m praying that I do like this one because it makes me so happy knitting it! I’m about half-way through the chart and I made the ribbing extra long so I can fold it over. This is what I WANT to work on but I “make” myself work on the things I need to get done first and knit this as a reward.

My sister-in-love asked me to make a blanket for her brother’s partner whose daughter is about to have the first grandchild. I have also cast this on hoping that I can get it finished before Thanksgiving and hand deliver it to her. I chose Berroco Vintage Chunky in a sage green colorway and am knitting the Three Cable Baby Blanket which is a free pattern we have in the store. I’m not sure where it came from but it’s my go-to pattern for baby gifts and I’ve made several of them. I am loving the green yarn. Green is my brother’s favorite color and this is a lovely soft yarn. I got almost one hank of yarn knitted yesterday afternoon … if I stick to it, I should be able to finish it by the end of the week. Crossing my fingers. I’ll have to resist knitting everything else.

I have pulled out the beautiful green linen yarn that I bought to make the Broadgate Tabbard and I really want to start knitting that. I have a new white blouse that will be perfect under this “vest” and I can’t wait to see the color! Another new green project and I have very little that’s green. It’s never been a favorite color but when I saw it in a photograph on social media, I had to have that exact color. I think I will be able to wear the tabbard (it’s like a vest but not closed up on the sides) in the summer, too. Over a tank or a tee. We’ll see. But the color green that I bought is stunning. It will wait until I have finished my Christmas knitting.

And with that, I will sign off and get to knitting the baby blanket. If I can get it nearly to the half-way marker today, that would be a huge win … first, though, I have got to put a grocery order together. So until the next time … gone knitting!

Before WIP Wednesday, a Couple of FOs

Posted on November 18, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s a glorious sunshiny day today and the house has been warmed by the sun to a nearly-too-warm 75 degrees at 9am. I can’t think of donning a sweater this morning, at least not downstairs. When we built this house, making it year-round-living-friendly, we had no idea how much passive solar heat we’d be getting but it’s incredible! The entire downstairs is warmed by the sun on days like this. Way past the temperature at which the heat is set.

I cast on a new project yesterday. I got a round and a half knitted before I had to run to work for a few hours and then got the balance of the ribbing done last night. As I was about to change the needles for the body of the hat, I decided that I’d like to knit a folded brim on this hat. I have a ton of yarn, way more than the pattern calls for, and I’d like to see how the fit and style change with a folded brim. SO … I have another couple of inches to knit in 1×1 ribbing before I head on to the chart. I am knitting the Alpine Bloom Hat in Juniper Moon Farms Patagonia Organic Merino. I’ve chosen two shades of grey – Anthracite, my main color, and Light Grey, as contrast color. I love to knit hats and have knit many for myself that end up being given away because I hate myself in hats. We’ll see how this one goes.

I have several other WIPs on the needles in various states of completion. I am about twenty inches of stockinette stitch into the Easy Folded Poncho that I’m knitting. This is a perfect project for those times when my brain is exhausted but my hands want to have yarn in them. It’s boring, frankly. But the color is wonderful and I hope I’ll love the poncho. I’m knitting this in Rowan Felted Tweed and I have to say that I do love this yarn. It’s particularly wonderful when paired with a silk mohair but this one is only the Felted Tweed and it’s lovely, too, on it’s own.

I have a Jamberry Cardigan on the needles for my granddaughter. I am now finished with the first sleeve and have started the second. It won’t take a lot of time to finish the sleeve but once I have knitted the button bands, there’s a bit of duplicate stitch before it’s complete. I love the way this sweater is knitting up and may use it as a basis for her 2026 Christmas sweater. But that’s a long way off. Let’s not go there.

While my FOs aren’t shown here at their finished state, you’ll just have to believe me. They’re finished. Off the needles. AND the little purple socks (they’re the second pair for Sylvie in this yarn and are quite a bit bigger than the first pair!) and the Musseburgh hat that I made as a sample for the store is also sent off to her. The hat wasn’t getting any attention at the shop and the yarn is no longer being sold wholesale so, off it goes to keep a little head warm! Yesterday I looked for alternative buttons for the little sweater that we’re sending to our grandson for Christmas. Hubby liked the ones I have at home better. Today I’ll sew them on and this gift will be finished and ready to wrap and send. Yay! I also finished the embroidered snowflakes on our granddaughter’s Christmas sweater and sent that off to New York City yesterday. That’s three FOs, ladies and gentlemen! Yay!

So, the remaining WIPs are the Jamberry cardi, Noah the horse, Easy Folded Poncho and now the Alpine Bloom hat. I’ve also had a request from my S-I-L for a baby blanket for her brother’s partner who is having her first grandchild in early December. I’ll buy yarn for that on Thursday when I’m at work and get it cast on. Now mind you, that’s my “active” WIP list. There are others in my atelier that I’m not going to mention here because it’s a little bit embarrassing. LOL.

I’ve been working to get another request from my eldest for the wee Sylvie – a yarny something to keep her hair clips and headbands on. She sent me a photo of a pinterest unicorn and that’s what I’m attempting to duplicate. I’ve got all the yarn cut and I’ve got a unicorn head template. I just have to cut the cardboard and put it together.

Hubby and I went for a drive to the local apple orchard and the garden center and I had to pick up some Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs and my annual Amaryllis bulb. I’ve gotten them all put into containers with pea gravel and water and now we wait to watch them grow. The Amaryllis is already sprouting leaves after 48 hours. I love watching bulbs grow and they add a nice pop of color to the winter in Maine.

I had a great mail day last weekend! I “had” to buy this one skein of self-striping sock yarn and add it to my stash. Must Stash Yarn does the most incredible self-striping colorways and I had a bit of trouble figuring out which ONE to buy. I ended up with this one and I’m so happy. I’ve also pre-ordered a couple of skeins from Lola Bean Yarn Company … I am looking forward to seeing that and playing with them both after the holidays are over.

Life is good here in the woods of Maine. We sure are feeling grateful for the place we live. With all the upsetting news lately, it’s good to be able to unplug and feel at peace at home.

Gone knitting.

WIP Wednesday

Posted on November 12, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Sunrise this morning was pretty spectacular. I woke myself up at 5am coughing … my sinuses continue to take away my sleep. Ugh. BUT what a view to wake up to! We installed insulated curtains in our living room where there is a wall of glass looking at the lake. It feels cold when the sun goes down now and we were hoping to warm it up a bit. We’ve been talking about it for a year or more. Anyway, we finally made it happen with curtain wires from IKEA and linen-look draperies from Amazon and we do feel like it’s warmed up the downstairs. Mission accomplished.

Yesterday the “girls” I work with went to visit a new yarn shop in Maine. New to us, anyway. Seems it’s been open since May. Olde School Fiber and Craft is in Gorham, Maine. It is described as “A curated fiber craft supply shop + community: encouraging a slower lifestyle that embraces time for making.” We all agreed that this was perfectly described. There is a curated collection of yarns that are thoughtfully displayed in a clean, orderly, quite beautiful way. We all ooohed and aaaahed over the knitting needle cabinet that held needles out of sight and neatly organized. There is also a lovely collection of needlework and sewing kits and materials that would delight any maker. I found the perfect little “sewing” kit for my granddaughter that’s similar to the lacing kits I’ve seen elsewhere and I think it’s going to be a perfect Christmas gift to work on with Yaya.

We also ventured to Mother of Purl in Freeport, Maine. Mostly because it was right where we met our coastal buddy at the park and ride and we couldn’t go home without going in, right? The shop has changed ownership since I’ve been in and it was, as it has been, a lovely visit with the most beautiful samples all around the store. I think they may win the beautiful sample contest in the state of Maine. (There is no such contest but maybe there should be?) Anyway, I behaved well and bought only one little ball of pompom yarn in almost neon colors and I’ll be making a hat for Sylvie, once again. It was a sample they had right inside the front (darn!) door

They carry Knitting for Olive yarns and others. Not a lot of yarn but lots of interesting brands that you don’t see everywhere else. I bought a pre-made kit for a pair of fingerless mitts – it was beautifully packaged with the yarn and pattern included. I’m excited to cast them on … but I’m requiring that I finish a couple of little sweaters first. Three to be exact.

The first one is in my last post and hasn’t changed one bit since I wrote about it. It’s been terrorizing me from my desk as I sit in my knitting chair working. I’ll get to it this weekend and finish it up. This one is my granddaughter’s Christmas sweater for 2025 and is a “Frozen” themed pullover. I sure hope she loves it.

The next two are gifts for the grands. Sylvie is getting a Jamberry Cardigan. Her mother reports that she loves the purple cardigan that I made for her over the summer and she thinks she likes it because she can put it on and take it off herself. And she picked the buttons. So, for Christmas, when I saw the Jamberry cardigan at the Cashmere Goat in Camden, Maine, I had to buy the yarn to make it for her – she loves the book! And for our grandson, Mac, a Wee Lima by Taiga Hilliard. I’m using washable yarns for both sweaters. Jamberry is in Berroco Vintage DK in three colors and there is some duplicate stitching to be done on the yoke when the knitting is finished. I found five buttons in what I believe to be the perfect purple yesterday at Olde School. Wee Lima I’m making in Cascade 220 Superwash Merino to “match” the Billie Pants I made in the same yarn. It’s perfect for wearing against the skin of a baby. I have no idea how it will wear considering that it’s Merino (short staple fiber, susceptible to pilling) but we’ll see. He’s a baby, he’ll grow out of it before it’s too “worn” right? The photo above is from last night before I went to bed. I’m making the 3-6 month size so it’s quick to knit – got that much done in an evening. I’m working down the body today and hope to get started on a sleeve tonight.

Rowan Felted Tweed in Zinnia – brighter than my “normal” pallet but wow!

I have another WIP to report on. I had bought, ages ago, some Rowan Felted Tweed in the Zinnia colorway. It’s a pretty bright orange for me but I have a pair of orange boots that I love and thought it’d be fun to have a poncho thing to match them. So, when I saw the orange Felted Tweed I bought it to make a vest or poncho and I’ve been admiring the Churchmouse Yarn Easy Folded Poncho pattern, for ages, too. SO guess who’s knitting the Easy Folded Poncho by Churchmouse Yarn in orange Felted Tweed? You’re right, this girl. I’ve got a little less than 50 inches of stockinette stitch to knit. Yes, you heard me right – 50 inches of stockinette stitch. I found right away that I had trouble remembering to slip the first stitch at the start of every row so I have put a marker in both ends to remind me and that seems to be working well. It’s perfect knitting for watching TV or driving in the car or for working on when I’m teaching class. I hope it won’t take me forever because I have so many sweaters that I want to knit. I’ve cast on the Poet sweater but haven’t gotten very far with it and I think I may have to knit the green vest that I bought the yarn for next. After the Christmas knitting is done.

I “finished” the red onion socks for Sylvie but one sock is slightly longer than the other. I just need to measure them both and figure out which one is closer to her size and adjust the other one. No worries with that. I’d love to get them finished and sent off with the crazy little hat I made as a sample for the store that’s for her … I’ll send both in a bit, maybe next week. Even the “experts” make mistakes. LOL

We are having some beautiful fall/winter weather here. Yesterday and last night we had some fun snow flurries. We woke up to a thin coat of snow on the grass but it was gone by the time I left for Bangor this morning. Soon enough it’ll be a winter wonderland here at home. I spent the day on Sunday in my atelier getting it cleaned up and a little bit of organizing. My yarn shelves have all been cleared off, cleaned, lavender refreshed, yarn re-stacked and some has been photographed for my stash and so I remember why I bought it. Some I’ve already forgotten but suffice it to say that I have several sweaters worth of yarn tucked away. I should be good in case there’s another pandemic – God forbid.

Gone knitting.

Since You Heard from me Last …

Posted on November 5, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

I’ve been a busy person! Since I’m feeling better, I am finally able to wrap my head around all the things that need to be done before winter actually hits and around our house, in particular, that’s a lot of stuff. We are bringing in the outdoor furniture, blowing leaves, and I’ve bought some insulated curtains for our big windows at the front of the house so that we can keep the heat inside and hopefully cut our heating bill. I’ve got all the parts of this project arriving today, I hope, so we can put it all up this weekend. Well, Sunday, since I’m working on Saturday.

I’ve sent Advent calendars to my kids, caught up with the laundry, finished and sent off my daughter’s fingerless mitts, and several other “chores”. It feels good to get some stuff checked off the (never ending) list.

I finished the knitting part of Sylvie’s (our granddaughter) Christmas sweater and have begun the embellishment. She loves Frozen this year and I hope she’ll love a sweater that’s loosely based on the idea of Frozen. I had the icy-purpley-blue chunky yarn in my stash and had the plan to use a Knitting Pure and Simple pattern to knit a pullover sweater. That part was done last week. The sweater took no time at all. Now the hard part starts. I had decided to embroider/duplicate stitch snowflakes with white yarn and some silver thread. So far, it’s turning out pretty well. I think I’ll be happy with it but the “stress” of creating different snowflakes is hurting my brain. So, I’m going to stop for now and add some more tomorrow. I think I’ll make some silver snowflakes, too, but here is what it looks like after a morning of work …

I’ve been working on a pair of socks for Sylvie as well. She loves my handknit socks but her parents don’t love having to hang socks to dry so I’ve been using King Cole Footsie yarn which is a fingering weight yarn that’s not wool and can be washed and dried in the dryer. BUT the kid’s feet have grown so fast. The last time I made her socks was at the beach in September and they’re already too small. Her favorite color is purple and here are the bigger socks (in the same yarn as before.) I’m making these a little more than six inches long. Hope they’ll fit for a couple of months. I’m using the Yankee Knitter pattern #29 Classic Socks for the Family.

I found a recipe for a French Apple Cake on the internet, in a meme, and decided to try it yesterday. It’s ok. Not great. Lots of apple and not enough cake IMHO. But the hubby is happy that I baked and I was going to bake today but I have a board meeting at 5pm and I had to get ready for that this morning – shower and get dressed and review all the documents for the meeting. We also have a finance professional development session in advance of the meeting planned for our newer members. Anyway, the cake will be eaten and my hubby has something sweet to have with his coffee. Next week I’ll bake more … I think scones are in order.

AND I’ve been trying to catch up with my houseplants. I have grown three lemon trees from seed. They are all at different stages and sizes. One is in a huge pot and the other two are medium and small but they’re all indoors now. I also have several orchids, one which appears to be struggling, and a few African Violets, and we have other plants too … one is like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. It is taking over our entire house, it loves it here so much and I continue to take cuttings from it and plant them and give them away and it’s growing so fast that I truly can’t keep up. I have three pots worth to plant and there are a couple of “legs” of the plant that are ten feet into the living room! That’s the long story about my new Clivia plant that I bought from a local nursery and brought home a few weeks ago. It was blooming when I brought it home but then we left for two plus weeks and the flower is gone AND the plant is covered in a white sticky powdery looking something. I suspect it’s a bug so I sprayed it with some home made insecticidal soap and washed the leaves and will keep it separated from the other plants until it’s clear of the bugs. Good grief. That took a bit of time this morning. Watering all the orchids, the plants in our bedroom window and the lemon trees. (Our heat is one and it’s very dry in our house. Time to hook up the humidifiers again.)

I cut off the flower spikes from the orchid and repotted it in orchid medium with no other materials in it in a smaller orchid pot. I just have to pay attention to it so it doesn’t dry out too much but it seems to have a couple of good healthy roots. Time will tell. I also decided to try to root a couple of the flower spikes – apparently you can cut the spikes and if they have a thingy where the flower spike will eventually pop out, you can get a baby orchid. My cut pieces look like they may indeed have that happening. I’m crossing my fingers. If it works, my dad will be so excited (he’s in heaven so I won’t see him but he always fought to get orchids to bloom and thrive. I seem to have the orchid prowess that he didn’t have. He’d be proud that I am having success with them and I love the plants so much.) I’ll post more as the baby plants and the mother plant start to feel better and grow again.

The leaves are truly falling off the trees. Oaks, which we have lots of in our yard, are the last to drop leaves but the yard is full of oak leaves. Hubby will be blowing and raking this weekend no doubt. It’s totally dark now at 5pm and that means it’s time to light up the inside and snuggle in for the winter. I don’t mind winter here at all. It’s so pretty and quiet and a good time to watch some television and knit more. We are so grateful to have such a good life.

I’ve also been cleaning up and straightening up my stash (at least the part that you see). I’ve got four shelves of yarn in my studio that I’d love to make doors for so they’d be more protected but I haven’t made that happen yet. SO once a year or so I pull down all my yarn and clean the shelves, refresh the bags of lavender, and put everything back on the shelves. This year I’m adding some of the sweater/garment quantities of yarn to my Ravelry stash list, too. I’ve gotten two of the shelves done and have two to go. Progress! It does feel good to care for the investment that I’ve made and to know that if I am stuck at home for another several months (or years) that I have enough yarn to keep my hands busy.

Gone knitting.

Coming Back to Life …?

Posted on November 2, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

I am finally starting to feel more like myself after a couple of weeks in New York grand-parenting and coming home with something germ-y. I finally went to the urgent care last week and got some antibiotics and that has helped. So has laying (relatively) low. I almost feel like I have some energy today. Almost. The sunshine may be helping a bit, too.

While I’ve been laying low, I’ve been on a finishing spree! I’m so happy to have several projects that have been on my needles in some form or another OFF the needles! The first one being the fingerless mitts for my daughter. She asked for a new pair a year ago, she chose her colors and the pattern and I started knitting. BUT I thought they’d be too big for her and was concerned so I waited to have her try them on when we were together … and then I forgot to have her try them on … twice, several months apart. So, I am finally finished knitting them and they are, as of this morning, dry after their bath and block. I am really happy with them and despite them being black and blue, they are quite stunning. I hope she’ll love them. I always hesitate to mail stuff to New York City because they do tend to get lost but I’ll ask her what she wants me to do. I’ll happily mail them to her or bring them to Thanksgiving.

Rain Shadow Mitts by Daniel Herrera is the pattern. I knitted these in Brown Sheep’s Nature Spun Fingering in Pepper and Cobalt colorways. I always like the palm patterns more than the main one and this pair didn’t change that sentiment. BUT I am really happy with these mitts and hope I never have to knit another pair. They’ll be warm for my girl this fall and winter, though, and for that I am grateful.

I also finished a hat for the store and a pair of convertible mittens for a donation. The hat is a pattern that you can’t get any longer from Ravelry. Luckily, I had the pattern and in a couple of days whipped up a hat for the store. One thing we really need is some new samples because the old ones get tired. Anyway, this is a bucket hat knit in two balls, one each of Noro Kureyon and Noro Silk Garden worsted-weight yarns. I chose a blue-ish colorway in the Kureyon and a neutral colorway in the Silk Garden and it’s come together very well. I’m tempted to try another hat in two bright colors … but my knitting list is growing in advance of the holidays so I have to put that off to the side. We’ll see how I feel when I get to the end of my list. (If it ever happens!)

I also knitted a pair of convertible mittens, String of Jewels Mitts, in Malabrigo Rios in the Pisces colorway. I was given this ball of yarn and needed to send a pair of mittens and pajamas to a non-profit that my Friday morning knitting group is supporting this fall. The organization, The Kinship Program, is part of the Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine. They support children who are taken out of their homes “in the dark of night” (my words) without anything of their own in many instances. We are sending them hats, pajamas, mittens and books to give to these kids. This pair of mittens will go to a teenager because they’re rather “adult” sized but I think the bigger kids are often ignored in favor of babies and smaller kids.

The third project, a mess of knitted fabric in the photo, is intentional because it’s my granddaughter’s 2025 Christmas sweater. I am designing a “simpler” design this year with stashed yarn because I am trying to knit down the stash and I bought this yarn to make her a sweater. The theme is loosely based on the Disney movie Frozen. The yarn is Cascade 128 Superwash wool, and I’ve used two hanks for this sweater. That means I have one more to make a hat … if time allows. I’ve seen a pattern for a hood-type hat with fun fur around the face and that’s what I’d like to make for her for the winter. New York City can feel really cold in the morning on the way to school! Sorry, you’ll have to wait for the photos of the finished project until after it’s delivered.

I cast on a new project yesterday, too. A pair of socks for my hubby for Christmas. He’ll watch me make them “with my class” and then will get them in his stocking this year. I’m knitting with HiKoo’s Madrona fingering weight yarn and a US 2 needle. The yarn is a combination of baby Alpaca, merino, bamboo and nylon and it’s super soft. He’ll love that they’re blue, his favorite color. AND I get to use another ball of stashed yarn. I missed making a pair of socks in October so these are my November Self-imposed Sock Club socks. I need to make some new socks for our granddaughter, too and since they’re small(er), I hope I can get more than one pair knitted in November.

I have two more sweaters on the list for holiday knitting. One each for the grandkids. And I think I want to join a KAL that I just learned about this morning (the danger of social media scrolling) that is being held as a Hap and Gratitude KAL and I’d knit Gudrun Johnston’s Lang Ayre shawl. I have a stash of J&S fingering weight wool to use for this project and I just have to check to see if I have five balls of any one of them. I know I have two of a few and one of many. I may have to buy some to get rid of a few. I”ll check today after we go to the apple farm. I’m jonesing for an apple fritter or an apple cider donut … or both.

Gone knitting.

Whew! A Whirlwind Week

Posted on October 26, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Today’s picture is actually yesterday’s picture but I loved it so much! We have this incredible view out of our bedroom window, aren’t we lucky? We don’t take it for granted. That’s a guarantee. This week has been a whirlwind week and I’m so grateful for a Sunday with little on our calendar other than catching up around the house. My calendar has been a crazy mess while we were in New York and I haven’t straightened my atelier for a couple of weeks and there’s a couple of weeks of laundry to do and I will get it done. Probably not all today. And that’s fine.

We both came home from New York with some cruddy sinus thing and I haven’t had a minute to stop and rest until today. We had a great Chamber event at Maine Arts Academy on Wednesday evening and I am totally thrilled with everything the staff did for that event. It was perfect from start to finish. The food, the staff who volunteered, the entertainment, all of it! I came home Wednesday night and fell right into bed. Thursday I worked in the yarn shop, Friday I taught knitting and on Saturday I was back in the shop for a big celebration of Malabrigo yarn’s 20th anniversary. We were so busy and I’m so grateful that Carol, one of my co-worker friends, had the idea to have two of us on with the owner, Joyce. We were certainly busy enough for the three of us. Last night I came home and couldn’t wait to go to be but I can’t make myself sleep at 6:30pm. Ha! Ha!

This morning we woke up and had a cup of coffee, inside now, and then I decided to take myself to the walk-in doc-in-a-box to see if I can get some medicine for this sinus thing that I’ve had for ten days. Happily, that was a success and I am looking forward to feeling much better any day now.

Meanwhile, I have done some knitting and made a little progress (and cast on a new project, too.) The first thing I did was finish the Billie pants for my grandson. I made these in a really nice shade of green that my bonus daughter picked out. The pants are adorable BUT I didn’t think well and need one more ball to make the sweater to match. I’ll order one ball today and can still get the wee sweater knitted in good time.

Billie pants in Cascade 220 Superwash Merino

I love the yarn and hope it’ll hold up to washing and drying. AND he’s growing so fast, they’ll likely be too small before they’re worn out. The yarn is next-to-skin soft and I love the color, too. I just have to block them and trim the ends that are all woven in.

String of Jewels Mitts in Malabrigo Rios

I found these mittens online and thought they were so pretty. The cuff is unique and I had this cake of Malabrigo Rios that was wound at the store and then the person didn’t want it. We typically don’t sell yarn once it’s caked so the boss handed it to me. So, I cast on thinking that these will be great for the winter and they’re fingerless mitts that are convertible (they’ll have a mitten tip attached) so they’re great for my morning drive to work in the earlier part of the winter. I’ve gotten the majority of the two mitts finished in a day or two and am enjoying the simplicity of this project.

I’ve got to attack my daughter’s colorwork mitts again this weekend and next week and try to get them finished so she can wear them. They’re a challenging pattern that is best worked on in the morning with a fresh, rested mind. I’ll try them tomorrow after a bit of time on my meds and see how far I can get. I am making progress.

And now I look ahead to Christmas knitting of which I am not doing a ton. I have a sweater to make for Sylvie and I think I am going to knit the Jamberry Cardigan for her but in Christmas colors (red being the main color with green and white accents in the yoke.) AND then I will likely make the same sweater in the pattern colors because she loves purple so much and she loves the book, too. I’ve already bought the yarn for both sweaters in Berroco Vintage DK.

I have traditionally knitted a pair of socks for my hubby’s stocking and I will try to get a pair done without him knowing I’m making them. I’ve still got a few balls of worsted weight sock wool that I’ve worked with for years and I think I know which pattern I want to knit to make it fun – not the plain vanilla socks I often knit for him. More on these later.

I’ve not made a pair of October socks and I’m not beating myself up about it. I have had a lot going on. This week I can play a little catch up but I’ll make my hubby’s Christmas socks my November pair and then I have some special Christmas sock yarn and I’ll make another pair in December, perhaps. I also promised bigger socks to our granddaughter because she loves my handknit socks. Especially the purple ones.

WIP list: Noah the Horse, my daughter’s fingerless mitts, the pink mittens with embroidery, my Poet sweater which as been sitting very idle and I’m sure there are others. I need to pull all of my yarn out of my shelves and clean up a few spider webs that I can see. I’ve never had spider webs in my studio before. Go figure. Think I can say they’re Halloween decorations?

Gone knitting!

Home

Posted on October 22, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

We were welcomed home by a gorgeous lakeside sunset and so much quiet. After a couple of weeks of constant noice and activity in New York City, it’s at the same time a relief to our senses and a shock. I loved being in NY with my kids and granddaughter and I’m happy to be home and sleeping in my own bed. We both brought home a preschool crud so we are getting by on tea, Sudafed and cough syrup. All I have to do is get through Saturday and it’ll be ok.

We ended out trip to NYC by moving over to my son’s apartment that he shares with his partner. It was good to catch up with them both over the last couple of days. When everyone is home, there are a lot of beds needed as guests and babysitters are also in town. And Sylvie’s Nana and Papa from NY State were there as were my hubby and I. We all had dinner downtown between Kate’s shows on Sunday for Sylvie’s actual birthday dinner and then we had her party on Monday before Kate had to go to work. Several of Sylvie’s friends from the playground and preschool were there and the birthday girl was so happy to celebrate her day. I suspect her parents will be glad to have their lives back to normal and sleep in their own beds after all the travel and business of the last couple of weeks.

We drove home yesterday and arrived to the lovely site pictured above. We unpacked the car, put stuff away and showered and put on our winter PJs and retreated to have a cup of tea in my studio and catch up on a bit of news (none of it very good) before we went to bed early and slept late. It was bliss to be in our own bed, too. We both slept almost 11 hours which is unheard of. Guess we were tired.

Maine Sea Captain’s Hat in Briggs & Little Heritage 2-Ply

On the way home yesterday, I finished a blaze orange hat for my dear hubby. His old one is a polyester blend with a little wool and it’s starting to show some wear. The new one is knit from Briggs and Little Heritage wool, worsted weight and it’ll be a warm addition to the fall/winter hat collection. I used the Maine Sea Captain’s Hat pattern which was perfect for this yarn and a quick knit. I’ll block it today and it’ll be ready for the season.

I found I’d made a mistake on the Billie Pants for our grandson, Mac. I made a mistake as I decreased the first leg and didn’t notice until I was decreasing for the second leg. I’ve frogged back to fix the second leg and then I’ll go back and fix the first one. The pants will be finished and blocked and then I’ll be ordering a bit more yarn to make a pullover to match the pants. The yarn is a bit pill-y and I hope it will hold up to several washings. I’ll let you know when we get there. Meanwhile we’ve gotten photos from Mac’s mom of our little nugget smiling at his mom and dad on purpose. Gosh we wish we lived closer!

I’m still working along on my daughter’s colorwork mitts, too. Slow going while we were in NY but it should pick up now that we’re home. I’m planning to finish the little Sorento Cardigan today and get it shipped off to Louisiana and its new owner. It’s been blocked and all I have to do is add the buttons, trim the yarn ends that are woven in, and add a label. It’ll be good to have it off my list for sure.

The Sorento Cardigan for my client is hereby finished. I sewed the buttons on. I had several buttons to choose from and decided finally to use the shell buttons that I use a lot. They’re a natural material and they brighten up the sweater. Plus they’re light and don’t weigh down the fine yarn. I hope my customer will be pleased. Off to Louisiana it goes tomorrow.

I’ve got so many projects in my queue and am heading into a three-day work weekend but I hope the following week will be quiet and I can get some work done. The holidays are coming and I know I need to knit a pair of socks for the hubby and a sweater for the granddaughter but I think that may be all for this year. We aren’t sure where we’re going for the holiday but likely NYC unless they come here which is unlikely this year, I think. Time will tell.

Gone knitting.

Very Little Knitting Going On!

Posted on October 15, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

This photo is from yesterday. We had an excellent adventure (again!) We took the little one to school in the morning and when we picked her up in the afternoon we jumped onto the subway downtown to head to The Shed (at Hudson Yards.) My younger daughter, the middle child, works there and she played with Sylvie while my hubby and I saw the show there through the middle of November. The Show is called, Viola’s Room and it’s an immersive theater experience. Six people in a small group enter a dark space, take off their shoes and socks and phones, etc. in a basket (they’re fully supervised) and with headset on, walk through the maze-like show, following the light. It was an experience like I’d never seen before and I was enthralled. The story is narrated by Helena Bonham Carter and you listen as you walk through for about 45 minutes. Highly recommend!

While the granddaughter was in school yesterday, I cleaned up the house a bit and baked an apple pie because her mommy only got one piece of the first pie I made. The Vessel is also at Hudson Yards where we were and it’s a sad thing. Now only open on the first two floors, it has been the site of several suicides. Not what the city or architects expected and now a rather “useless” space.

Over the weekend we visited the Bronx Zoo and I went to see my daughter’s show, Heathers, at New World Stages. Heathers was a big deal in the 90s apparently and even without knowing anything about it, I thoroughly enjoyed the performances. It’s a young cast with many very talented performers and my daughter is one of them. Sylvie rode the carousel at the Zoo three times! I’m guessing that was her favorite thing on that day. LOL

Obviously, wrangling an almost-3-year-old doesn’t allow me to do as much knitting as I normally do. AND I’m ok with that. I’m here to play and care for the kiddo while her parents are working. So we’ve spent a lot of time at the playground, doing craft projects, coloring and watching halloween movies.

I’ve frogged and reknit the mitts for my daughter. It seems that whenever I “know” what I’m doing, I make mistakes. But, I am making progress on the colorwork and have made it up to the second pattern of the mitts so I’m feeling pretty good about these actually getting finished before the winter really arrives in NYC. My daughter chose the black and blue colorway and I think the colors are magnificent. Perfect for NYC wear. The pattern is not intuitive, though, and I struggle to keep the count straight. Especially with the bottom “wave” pattern that I just finished. But I am making progress … slowly.

I have also worked on the Billie pants for my grandson. I have just begun the ribbing on the first leg and will (soon enough) get to the second leg. My plan is to have them done with a sweater to match for Christmas time. Or sooner. We don’t really believe in filling our grandchildren’s lives with stuff so we find books and little things throughout the year and we will invest in 529 educational savings accounts for them both. Being together and not having a relationship based on “what did you buy me?” is more important to us. Of course, if the kids need anything for the grandchildren, we will happily oblige. I’d rather buy ice cream or rainbow bagels on the way to the playground than give a toy that may or may not be played with and just adds to the landfill.

Today we’re picking up from school at 3pm and will head to the playground for an hour since the sun is out and it’s a pretty day. A stop at the pharmacy and grocery store will be on the way home. Everything is on foot here. We are walking so much more than at home and it’s so good for us! Yesterday we did more than 11,000 steps before dinnertime.

Gone knitting.